An English lesson. Learn English vocabulary with the Special Ops Lioness series.
Look at these words: ain't, cheatin', tryin', ma'am. There is an apostrophe in each of them. In this lesson, we will find out why it is used. Also, we learn some new words, such as "at ease", "classified", "vetting", "frisk" and many others.
New words and phrases
The phrase “at ease” is often used in the military to give soldiers the command to relax their posture and stand comfortably, with feet apart and hands behind the back.
“Classified” documents and information are officially kept secret and can only be seen by people who have high authority or special permission.
“Vetting” means the action of examining someone or something carefully to make certain that they are or it is acceptable or suitable for something.
“Frisk” means to use your hands to search someone’s body when they are wearing clothes to see if they are hiding illegal objects or weapons.
“Interrogate” means to ask someone a lot of questions for a long time in order to get information, sometimes using threats or violence.
“Insurgent” means someone who is fighting against the government in their own country.
“Muslim” means a person who follows the religion of Islam.
“Groin” means the place where your legs meet the front of your body.
“Evolve” means to develop gradually, or to make someone or something change and develop gradually.
The phrase “outside the lines” means to not follow the rules or conventions. This can be done in a positive or negative way.
The apostrophe in the words “ain’t”, “cheatin’”, “tryin’”, and “ma’am” is used to indicate a contraction. In these cases, the apostrophe takes the place of the missing letters: “ain’t” is a contraction of “am not”, “cheatin’” is a contraction of “cheating”, “tryin’” is a contraction of “trying to”, “ma’am” is a contraction of “madam”. “Cheating” here means using dishonest methods to gain an advantage.
All right, now watch a part of this clip without subtitles.
Great work. Hope you enjoy it. See you next lesson, bye.